RapidMind and Terra Soft to make development of Linux applications on the PS3 much easier.

ps3 final hardware 11 - New Linux development tools for PS3

It has been announced that RapidMind and Terra Soft have teamed up to make application development for the PlayStation 3 easier than ever before. Last month Terra Soft announced the release of Yellow Dog Linux of the PlayStation 3, and now with the RapidMind Development Platform, developers can more easily create applications that run on PS3 and other hardware which utilizes the Cell Broadband Engine.

A full-featured evaluation version of the RapidMind Development Platform v2.0 will be provided for distribution from Terra Soft's YDL.net Enhanced Accounts.

"It's exciting to imagine what will happen when you put a supercomputer-class PlayStation 3 with a great OS into the hands of developers," said Ray DePaul, RapidMind President and CEO. "Developers are eager to take advantage of the Cell BE and the PlayStation 3 without the need to understand the underlying architecture of this complex multi-core processor. The RapidMind platform makes that possible."

"Yellow Dog Linux provides a complete Linux OS for the PlayStation 3 resulting in a very powerful computing platform. We are thrilled to be working with RapidMind to make this platform more accessible for professional developers and hobbyists alike," said Kai Staats, Terra Soft CEO.

RapidMind is also taking part in a Hack-a-thon from January 20 to January 26 for the optimization of applications for the Cell BE, hosted at Terra Soft's Loveland, Colerado headquarters. A number of organizations such as IBM, Mercury, and Tungsten Graphics have committed resources, with dozens of other labs, universities, and individuals planning to participate. The goal is to create a set of application examples to showcase the potential of the Cell BE.